The Greatest Men's World Cup Records Of All Time

The greatest tournament in the greatest sport generates the greatest records. The FIFA World Cup, which dates back to 1930, has no shortage of incredible records. With the 2018 tournament around the corner, we’ve compiled the greatest World Cup records of all time.

Want to know who has scored the most goals in the World Cup, overall, in a single match or a single tournament? Read on.

Want to know who has the most clean sheets or longest scoreless streak in a World Cup? Read on.

Want to know who got the fastest red card or the guy who actually got three yellow cards? Read on.

Greatest World Cup Records

Most Goals By An Individual In Single World Cup

Fontaine, who was born in Marrakech, scored 30 goals in 21 appearances for Les Bleus.

Will Just Fontaine’s World Cup record ever be broken? Photo: @fifaworldcup_es | Twitter

Most Goals By A Team In Single World Cup

27 — Hungary (1954)

The Mighty Magyars lost 3-2 to West Germany in the final after beating the same team 8-3 in the group stage. They also won 9-0 over South Korea, which set a record for most goals conceded (16) in a single tournament. Hungary also set the mark for highest goal difference (+17).

Most Clean Sheets By Goalkeeper

Barthez won a World Cup while Shilton allowed the Hand of God goal to Diego Maradona.

Most Goals Scored In Single Match

5 — Oleg Salenko, Russia (1994)

The Russians won 6-1 over Cameroon in a meaningless group-stage match in California.

Most Goals Conceded In Single Match

10 — Luis Guevara Mora, El Salvador (1982)

Hungary opened its World Cup with a 10-1 win over an El Salvador team that qualified over the U.S. That year, El Salvador took 20 players to the tournament, two fewer than allowed as a cost-cutting measure.

Most Total Goals In Single Match

12 — Austria 7-5 Switzerland (1954)

Austria trailed 3-0 before coming back to win. The 1954 tournament still holds the record for most goals per match (5.38).

Fastest Hat Trick

8 minutes — László Kiss, Hungary (1982)

Kiss scored in the 69th, 72nd and 76th minutes against El Salvador.

Most Penalties Missed

2 — Asamoah Gyan, Ghana

Gyan missed one against the Czech Republic in 2006 and another in the quarterfinals against Uruguay in 2010.

Fastest Goal From Kickoff

10.8 seconds — Hakan Şükür, Turkey (2002)

The goal came against South Korea in the third-place match despite South Korea kicking off.

Fastest Red Card

56 seconds — José Batista, Uruguay (1986)

Batista made a rash challenge on Scotland’s Gordon Strachan but La Celeste held on for a 0-0 draw to reach the knockout rounds.

Fastest Yellow Card

13 seconds — Jesús Gallardo, Mexico (2018)

Gallardo jumped into a Swedish player almost immediately to be booked.

Most Cards

7 — Javier Mascherano, Argentina (2006-2018)

After Mascherano's mark with seven yellows, France's Zinedine Zidane, Brazil's Cafu and Mexico's Rafael Márquez are tied with six. Zidane and Cafu faced off in the 1998 final and the 2006 quarterfinals, Zidane winning both times.

Most Common Matchup

Most Common Final

Including the 2014 final won by Die Mannschaft, the Argentines and West Germans split the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals.

Most Nations Coached

5 — Bora Milutinović and Carlos Alberto Parreira

Milutinović coached Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the U.S. in 1994, Nigeria in 1998 and China in 2002. Parreira coached Kuwait in 1982, UAE in 1990, Brazil in 1994 and 2006, Saudi Arabia in 1998 and South Africa in 2010.

Highest Attendance

199,854 — Brazil vs. Uruguay (1950)

The deciding match of the 1950 World Cup broke the hearts of tens of thousands of Brazilians as Uruguay won 2-1 at the Maracanã.

Lowest Attendance

300 — Romania vs. Peru (1930)

The official attendance was 2,459 but it was far lower than that for the opening match of Group 3.

Individual World Cup Records

Longest Scoreless Streak By Goalkeeper

517 minutes — Walter Zenga, Italy (1990)

Zenga recorded five straight clean sheets in this span.

Most Goals Conceded By Goalkeeper

25 — Antonio Carbajal, Mexico; Mohamed Al-Deayaa, Saudi Arabia

To be fair to Carbajal, he appeared in a record five tournaments.

Most Penalties Saved

2 — Jan Tomaszewski, Poland; Brad Friedel, U.S., Iker Casillas, Spain

Tomaszewski (1974) and Friedel (2002) accomplished the feat in a single tournament.